Method for rendering difficultly dyeable material or fabric dyeable and product

ABSTRACT

A DIFFICULT DYEABLE MATERIAL OR FABRIC IS RENDERED READILY DYEABLE BY CAUSING ADHERENCE TO THE SAME OF A DYEABLE POWDER, FOR EXAMPLE, BY FUSING THE POWDER TO THE SURFACE OF THE MATERIAL OR FABRIC BY HEAT AND/OR PRESSURE. IN ONE EMBODIMENT A CARPET BACKING MADE OF NONWOVEN POLYPROPYLENE IS RENDERED DYEABLE BY DEPOSITING A DYE RECEPTIVE POLYESTER OR POLYAIDE OR OTHER MATERIAL ON ONE OR BOTH SIDES OF THE FABRIC AND FUSING THE POWDER TO THE SURFACE AS HEREIN DESCRIBED.

United States Patent METHOD FOR RENDERING DIFFICULTLY DYE- ABLE MATERIAL OR FABRIC DYEABLE AND PRODUCT Ray D. Ramsay, Bartlesville, Okla., assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company No Drawing. Filed Aug. 19, 1970, Ser. No. 65,254 Int. Cl. D02j 3/00; D03d 21/00; D04]: 3/12 US. Cl. 11721 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A difiicultly dyeable material or fabric is rendered readily dyeable by causing adherence to the same of a dyeable powder, for example, by fusing the powder to the surface of the material or fabric by heat and/or pressure. In one embodiment a carpet backing made of nonwoven polypropylene is rendered dyeable by depositing a dye receptive polyester or polyamide or other material on one or both sides of the fabric and fusing the powder to the surface as herein described.

This invention relates to a method for rendereing dyeable a ditficultly dyeable material or fabric. It also relates to the product thus obtained.

In one of its concepts, the invention provides a method for rendering dyeable a difficultly dyeable material or fabric by depositing thereon a dyeable powder or material, for example, a polyester or polyamide, and causing the polyester or polyamide to adhere to said material. In another concept of the invention, it provides a dyeable material or fabric which is composed of a difliculty dyeable material or fabric having coated thereon a dyeable material or powder, for example, a polyester or polyamide which has been sprayed thereon or deposited by electrostatic means and then fused to the surface of the material or fabric by means of heat and/or pressure. In a further concept of the invention, it provides a method for dyeing a carpet having a carpet backing made, for example, of nonwoven polypropylene fabric which comprises powdering onto the carpet backing a dye receptive material, fusing the material to the backing, constructing the carpet, and then dyeing the entire carpet in one dyeing operation.

I have conceived a method for rendering dyeable a diflicultly dyeable material, for example, a carpet backing made of nonwoven polypropylene by adding to the carpet backing, i.e., to the fabric of which it is constructed, a dyeable material or powder and fusing the same to the fabric as herein described.

While the invention is generally applicable, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, in possession of this disclosure, having studied the same, it will be described herein largely in connection with the production of dyeable carpet backing made essentially from a nonwoven plastic, e.g., polypropylene.

Presently, there is available a solution dyed carpet backing which is made from plastic fiber which has been previously colored. This type of carpet backing must be stocked in different colors for making various colors of carpets. It would be desirable to have a carpet backing ice which can be dyed at the same time when the pile is dyed. This would eliminate inventory problems of stock ing carpet backing in various colors.

By treating a carpet backing according to my invention, it is rendered dye receptive and can be dyed at the same time when the pile is dyed, after the carpet has been constructed. By use of selective dyes and the proper selection of the powdered material, the backing can be dyed a different color than the pile fiber in the same dyeing operation.

It is an object of this invention to render dyeable a difliculty dyeable material or fabric. It is another object of this invention to produce a readily dyeable material or fabric. It is further an object of this invention to produce a carpet backing made of a difiicultly dyeable material, e.g., nonwoven polypropylene, which can be dyed after the carpet has been constructed so that the pile and the backing are dyed with the same dye solution and may or may not have the same color.

Other aspects, concepts, objects and the several advantages of the invention will be apparent from the study of this disclosure and the appended claims.

According to the invention, there is provided a method for rendering dyeable a difiicultly dyeable material or fabric which comprises depositing thereon a dyeable material or powder, for example, a polyester or polyamide, and then fusing said material or powder to the surface, for example, by means of heat and/ or pressure.

The dyeable powder is not necessarily to be raised to its flux temperature. It is sufficient merely to create an effect to cause the dyeable powder to adhere to the material or fabric to be rendered dye receptive.

Generally, the dye receptive polyester, polyamide, or other material can be sprayed or powdered or deposited by electrostatic or other means onto the surface of the material or fabric to be rendered dye receptive. However, it is sometimes desirable to fuse the powder into the interstices of the fabric. To this end, in addition to various methods for depositing the powder onto the fabric, there can be employed such techniques as vibration effective to cause the powder to settle deeply into the interstices of the fabric before the fusing operation is effected. In some cases, the fabric can be dipped into a fluidized powder and the powder thus caused to adhere and be fused to the fabric. The powder can be expelled in heated condition onto the fabric and thus fused thereto.

It is within the scope of the invention to pre-fuse or to subsequently fuse the fabric strands or elements as well as the dye receptive powder.

Further, it is within the scope of the invention to prepare a fabric which can be heated by induction heating, for example, by incorporating into the fabric metallic powder or wire so that the induction heated metallic substance can pick up from a fluidized bed the dye receptive powder, causing it to fuse at least to the metallic substance if not also to the plastic fabric or other difficultly dyeable material.

Still further, it is within the scope of the invention to heat the fabric by capacitance heating and microwave heating so that the fabric can pick up from a fluidized bed the dye receptive powder, causing it to adhere to the fabric.

Still further, the powder can be deposited on both sides of the fabric. Different powders can be deposited on opposite sides of the fabric to obtain pleasing effects. Mixtures of powders can be depoesited on the same side of the fabric, also to obtain pleasing effects.

Loktuft, a nonwoven fabric of polypropylene fibers, is available from Phillips Fibers Corp., Greenville, SC, in rolls of about twelve or fifteen feet width and lengths of about 1000 lineal yards, has a weight of about three to six ounces per square yard, a tensile strength in the warp direction of 50-100 pounds and a tensile strength in the fill or woof direction of about 50-100 pounds. Loktuft is a nonwoven fabric of polypropylene to which this invention is applied in one of its now preferred forms.

For example, a carpet backing of woven or nonwoven polypropylene is coated with nylon powder. It is then subjected to heat and pressure by passing the coated fabric through a set of heated nip rolls. The powder is thus fused into the surface of the fibers comprising the fabric. The thus coated fabric is immersed in the dye bath and the nylon coating is dyed.

For a nonwoven fabric which requires processing through heated nip rolls during its manufacture, e.g., Loktuft, the powder may be deposited before this manufacturing step to accomplish bonding of the fibers and fusion of the particles onto the fibers at the same process step.

The dyeable substances which can be used according to the invention are various and can be selected by mere routine test. It is not necessary that the powder be one which fuses if it can be coated onto the fabric or other material in a manner to cause it to adhere to said material. For example, the material or fabric itself can be caused to fuse sufiiciently to embed within itself or to cause to adhere to itself the dye receptive powder or other material.

The powders now preferred for the dyeing of say, polypropylene fabric, are the polyesters and polyamides, for example, dacron (a trademark) a polyester and nylon as these are further described in the art.

The dyes which can be used for dyeing the product of the invention, i.e., the difficultly dyeable material which has been rendered readily dyeable by the coating of the invention are various and can be selected by mere routine test and are those which will dye the material of which the coating consists. Such dyes are:

(1) water soluble anionic acid dyes and (2) water insoluble organic compounds known as dispersed dyes.

Other materials which can be subjected to the treatment of the method of the invention are:

Woven fabric of olefin fiber, including slit yarn Olefin film and sheets.

The amount of dye required for use with this invention is small since only the particles on the surface are dyed.

The intensity of the color imparted to a fabric or material can be varied by varying the number of dyeable particles per unit of surface area.

4 EXAMPLE A web, such as nonwoven polypropylene fabric, is rendered dyeable by adhering a dyeable powder thereto as follows:

Dyable powder Nylon 66.

Particle size 2 to microns.

Preferably 5 to 25 microns.

Coverage 2 to 50 g./m. Preferably 5 to 25 g./m.

Dyes Water soluble anionic acid dyes or water insoluble organic compounds known as dispersed dyes.

Nip roll temperature 200 to 360 F.

Preferably 275 to 325 F.

Nip roll pressure 75 to 1000 p.s.i.

Preferably 180 to 250 p.s.i.

Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope of the foregoing disclosure and the appended claims, the esence of which is that a difiicultly dyeable material is rendered readily dyeable by adding thereto a coating of a powder which is readily dyeable and causing the powder coating to adhere thereto, for example, by causing the powder and/or the material to fuse, and thus to adhere to each other.

I claim:

1. A method for rendering a non-woven polyolefin fabric dyeable which comprises impregnating said fabric with a readily dyeable powdered polyester or polyamide and coating the filaments thereof by fusing said powdered material to the fabric by heat.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the readily dyeable powder is selected from nylon and Dacron.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the polyolefin is polypropylene.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,991,217 7/1961 Schmidt et al. 117-16 3,002,849 10/ 1961 Harmon et al. 117-21 3,099,514 7/1963 Haber 117-28 3,197,324 7/1965 Brooks 117-21 3,354,013 11/1967 Terrell et al. 117-33 3,503,778 3/1970 Corbett et a1. 117-21 3,5 89,3 33 6/ 1971 Quackenbush 117-21 3,592,725 7/1971 Yoshimura et al 117-16 3,520,766 7/1970 Newman 117-16 3,542,502 11/1970 Tesoro 117-139.5 A 3,518,154 6/1970 Broadhurst 117-33 3,492,144 1/ 1970 Sheehan et al. 117-17 3,002,849 10/1961 Harmon et al. 117-21 3,359,059 12/ 1967 Gagliardi 8-72 3,496,054 2/ 1970 Baigas 117-33 3,329,553 7/1967 Sims et al. 117-33 3,314,743 4/ 1967 Gagliardi 8-3 1 RALPH HUSACK, Primary Examiner W. R. TRENOR, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 8-4, 180; 28-74; 57-164; 117-28, 139.5 A, A 

